WyldLife Camp Post-game

Post-game?  Where did that come from?  Guess I'm excited about the Colts v. Patriots game today!  WyldLife Camp...where to start?  It was an awesome, overwhelming, challenging, tiring, ridiculously fun weekend!  From the moment the kids stepped on the buses til we dropped them off back at the school, it was sheer energy...the kind that makes you feel like you are just keeping your head above water while secretly wondering if you shouldn't just let the waves wash over you and give in to the madness.

I was blessed to be paired with an awesome former Vida Joven-er who now volunteers with international schools Wyldlife as my co-cabin leader.  She has a few more years experience with this age group and brought a lot of insights and fun to our cabin.  I knew about half the kids in our cabin at least on some level and by the end of the weekend felt like I knew them all even better.

Here are a few highlights and some pictures.  Be looking for some more in December's newsletter coming to your in-box in a couple weeks!

Larissa and Dani:  These two girls are from one of 5 schools where we don't actually have a presence on campus, but have heard about Wyldlife through the grapevine--in their case through one of our high school student Wyldlife leaders!  These two girls have stolen my heart!  They are so sweet and so smart and I'm so excited to be friends with them the entire time I'm here.  In a break before dinner, after taking a shower I found them laying in bed talking.  I asked them what they were talking about and they said their futures and what they wanted to be.  After pausing, Dani added--and when we have boyfriends how we really want to know them well and know what they are about.  Smart girls!  These two are in 7th grade, and 8th grade is a turning point here for kids' involvement in Wyldlife...sometimes we lose kids to partying or thinking that Wyldlife is for "babies."  And the transition to Young Life is even harder.  I'm hoping and praying for the faith and wisdom God has given these girls at such a young age to stay strong!  They could be huge leaders in their schools!!

Middle school boys:  WOW.  Not sure what else to say.  WOW.  I have a confession to make.  I'm an awful Wyldlife leader :)  Here's why...  Scene:  Gym time with guided games.  Perpetrator:  Harry  (description:  typical middle school boy--loveable one minute, want to wring his neck the next!)  Incident:  I'm walking away from a game of scooter hockey and suddenly from four feet away Harry kicks a ball RIGHT IN MY FACE.  2 seconds of stinging shock then Harry:  "Oh, I'm SO sorry.  I'm SO sorry.  Are you okay?  I'm SOOOO sorry!"  Me:  "Don't worry, Harry!  It's fine.  It was an accident."  Gotta love middle school boys and pink cheeks!

Middle school girls:  WOW.  Not sure what else to say.  WOW.  Haha.  We have a handful of middle school girls who are just difficult to love.  And they are EXACTLY the kind of kids we want at Wyldlife.  They don't want to listen to instructions, they leave the cabin in the middle of the night to play in the bathroom, they ask you 5,000 questions, they talk during the Club talk, they love you one minute and hate you the next.  And God broke my heart for them this weekend.  Broke my heart for the 7th graders who are already partying like college students.  Broke my heart for the ones who didn't want to eat because they think they are fat.  Broke my heart for the ones who don't have a mom and sometimes not a dad.  Broke my heart for the ones who are so desperate for attention they'll look for it anywhere.  Broke my heart for the ones who had NEVER heard before in their lives that they are TOV MEOD--the best of the best of the very, very best.  It's the Hebrew word God uses to describe the creation of humans in Genesis.

It was a whirlwind weekend and at some moments I questioned my ability to love these middle school kids well then at the very next moment I would remember something and get really excited.  I got really excited because Wyldlife gives us a chance to meet kids where they are EARLIER and walk with them LONGER and give kids a chance to know SOONER they are LOVED by a big God, a God who thinks they are the best of the best of the very, very best!

WYLDLIFE CAMP starts TODAY!!!

Wow, I can't believe it is here already.  Today is the first day of a three-day camp for our Wyldlife kids, middle schoolers in grades 6-8th.  And what am I doing you ask?  Hole-punching nametags.

We have had 10 kids sign up in the last two days bringing our total for the weekend to nearly 60 kids!  WOW!  And I think it is just hitting me that we have 60 kids or so at Wyldlife each week and we have nearly 60 kids coming to camp...that's AMAZING.  That's more kids than I have EVER taken to camp before and they are all under the age of 14 :)

And we run the camp!  With some help from a few friends who flew in from the States to lead the programs/activities, music and the camp speaker.  But still...it's impressive what God is doing here through Wyldlife.  And I'm so excited to experience my first camp!

But I am also exhausted, dealing with my seemingly never-ending stomach issues (which pre-dated coming here), and a little overwhelmed.  But can I just tell you two cool things that God has done for me this week:

(1)  I had a bad evening.  It happens, it's life.  But I really didn't want to have a bad evening the night before camp.  And as I was sitting on a bench waiting for my bus and yelling at God, telling Him that I was tired of my stomach hurting, tired of getting to the bus stop just in time to MISS the bus, tired of catcalls on the streets and being nervous walking home/being on the bus at night (I AM being safe!), and just plain TIRED thinking of all I had left to do tonite.... and guess what God did?  A friend called me right then from the language school looking for another friend, but in the midst of our conversation he shared how he had had the WORST day.  A test went bad so he skipped the rest of his classes went home and took a long nap then contemplated packing up and leaving the country without telling anyone because learning Spanish is just too hard.

WHEW!  Thanks God.  Thanks for reminding me I'm not alone.  Thanks for reminding me my day could be worse.  Thanks for IMMEDIATELY answering my cry out to You---even in the midst of me yelling at You.  Thanks for being faithful beyond belief.  I love you for that God!

(2)  This song.  I don't know why but I always seem to have to lead our powerpoint for chapel (which is at language school twice a week) the day after Club.  And I'm always up at 11/12 p.m. typing up the song lyrics because there is literally no other time to do it.  This week I typed up the lyrics to the song below almost falling asleep, thinking, "Shannon...she loves her hymns!" Shannon leads worship for the group that I do PPT for (we have four groups that rotate doing music for chapel).

And then in chapel, I heard the song.  And I cried the entire way through it.  This song is AMAZING, there just are no words.  Now the music to this version of the song isn't as good as when we sang it in chapel, but you get the idea.  I encourage you to listen to it in a quiet place and meditate on the lyrics.  They are simply beautiful and TRUTH just pours out of them.  This is my prayer for this weekend!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiRK2gu-KQQ&feature=related

Mud slides and national emergency

As I get ready to leave to meet two Vida Joven staff friends, Carolina and Sharon, for our Thursday night dance class, I am aware of the tension that's followed me from the United States here.  It doesn't matter if the crisis is across town or around the world, it is very easy to stay enveloped in safety and security and forget the immense pain, suffering, and fear others are enduring.

Escazu is a suburb of San Jose on the west side of the city.  I live on the near east side of the city in a place called San Francisco de Dos Rios.  The majority of the kids I work with here live in Escazu and neighboring areas--in what some call "Gringo land"--because of the high concentration of expats living there.  But as in many big cities, the wealthy and the poor live side by side.  And last night there was a major mudslide (the second in a month) in one of the poorer areas killing 20 with 10 still missing and more than 1,000 people displaced.  A woman in my host mom's University class and her family were killed in one of the mudslides.  (Read more here:  http://www.ticotimes.net/News/Daily-News/Escazu-Landslide-Leaves-at-Least-20-Dead-10-Missing-C.R.-on-Red-Alert_Thursday-November-04-2010)

I was JUST in Escazu for Young Life Club last night and the rain was torrential.  I prayed the entire way home that we would arrive safely.  Costa Rica has declared a national emergency and all schools were shut down today.  The water supply is uncertain in many areas of the city (either not available or undrinkable).  I'm safe where I live--there is no threat of a mudslide here and very little threat of flash flooding.  But so many are mourning the loss of loved ones and their homes tonite.

Please be praying for all who have been affected and for relief from the rain.  November begins the end of the rainy season, but the country is still very vulnerable at this time.  Thanks for your prayers!

P.S.  I would ask you to also pray for the border conflict between Nicaragua and Costa Rica concerning the San Juan river.  There has long been debate over ownership and use of this border river and it has escalated recently with the involvement of Nicaraguan military.  Please pray for wisdom for both countries' leaders and for a peaceful and swift resolution.